Proposed Changes to RosCoe: Robot of the School of Engineering

Project Team: Travis McKennaProject Advisor: Dr. Wang

The Point

• To create interest in present and prospective students towards robotics.

• To display media from other Senior Projects/Activities.

• To demonstrate current capabilities.

• To entertain and educate.

Overview

• Visual Recognition/Biometrics • Speech Recognition, Commands, Response • Navigation/Collision Detection • Indicator/Warning Lights• Remove Laptop: run entirely with proprietary board(s)• Secure exterior, more convenient access.• Try to replace 120VAC components with compatible

alternatives: run inverter-free.• Partial to full independence.• Additional Gestures.

Visual Recognition (OpenBR)

• OpenBR generates templates, optimized representations of faces. (Eigenfaces)

• Computes similarity between templates.• Dependencies include OpenCV

(templates are or contain OpenCV matrices) and Qt.

OpenBR

openbiometrics.org

Speech Recognition (CMUSphinx)

• CMUSphinx started by Kai-Fu Lee as doctoral thesis Carnegie Mellon.

• Extracts acoustic feature vectors from recording, separates into base phones Y

• Uses hidden Markov statistical model (next state conditional but only on present state) guessing one phone after another.

• Existing alternatives work similarly.

Practically Speaking

• In practice, code generates a “hypothesis” (string) from recorded audio.

• Must either create model with prerecorded text (testing set) or download pre-made.

• Can restrict vocabulary and still be ok.

Navigation

• Prior robotics projects have used the D* algorithm, others exist.

• Stores 2-D map of space.

• Computes distances between nodes, finds shortest path around obstacles.

global_planner package: ROS (wiki.ros.org)

Rangefinding

• Methods:– Light spot/stripe

reflected and measured in detector (either intensity or angle).

– Time of flight (optical or acoustic)

– Stereo vision (one or two camera)

www.maxbotix.com

www.hokuyo-aut.jp

ww2.ptgrey.com

www.xbox.com

Laptop –> Fully Embedded

• Currently laptop and Raspberry Pi split RosCoe’s functions.

• Would prefer an embedded, dedicated machine, Pi or otherwise.

• Depending on performance with Pi, may need to look for alternatives (Beagleboard, ~$60).

Budget (Past Year)

Item PriceLaptop 700Touch Screen 225Battery 140Motor Controller 140Sensors Speakers 20 Lights 25 Ultrasonic 110 Other 20Remote Controller 60Building Materials 529.5Motors 2011Power Management 275Totals: 4255.5

Item PriceLaptop 700Touch Screen 225Battery 140Motor Controller 140Sensors Speakers 20 Lights 25 Ultrasonic 110 Other 20Remote Controller 60Building Materials 469.5Motors 0Power Management 275Totals: 2184.5

Estimate of from-scratch costTeam contribution cost

Budget (Present Year)Item Price

Rangefinder/Stereo Vision <= $200 (price of new Kinect V2)

Panel Backing/Door Material Al ~3/16” thick $2.44 per ft2; Polycarb. ~.093in $5.55 per ft2;~$100

Hinges (2x) ~$5 ea.

Aerosol Contact Adhesive ~$10 per can

Fasteners (sheet metal screws) ~$0.05 ea.

12V touchscreen replacement <= $150 (7” HDMI 4 Pi or 10” which comes without mount and case)

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Total ~$450-500

Tentative Timeline

• Program ROS nodes & graph (~3-4 mo.)– Navigation/Vision/Hearing (~2-3mo.)• Incorporate Facial/Speech Recognition(~1-2mo.)

• Exterior improvements (<= 1 mo.)

Questions